What is Psychology and how can it help you?
● Psychology - scientific study of mental activity and behavior, which depend on
processing in the brain
○ Objective and does not investigate personal experience
○ Systematically investigates and measures thoughts, feelings, and behavior, and
how brain processes make them possible
○ Can be used to improve your life by using how the brain works to your advantage
■ Improve your own well-being by understanding concepts like anxiety and
how sleep affects the brain
■ Improve your relationships by understanding how people like family
develop and why people do what they do
■ Improve your career by making good career and education choices,
understand how to improve performance, understand how to work better
with other people like coworkers and clients, and utilize psychology in
your field
● Empiricism - evidence-based approach to gaining knowledge by conducting research
that systematically investigates and measures phenomena of interest
○ In psychological research, this is using an objective, evidence-based approach
■ This approach allows psychologists to gain insight into the mental activity
of many people, not just one person
● Psychology research shows how you can improve study skills, learning, and academic
performance (science of learning)
○ IMPACT Method
■ Improving - Adopting a growth mindset, believing that you can put in the
work to change how you think, feel, and act to improve in your targeted
areas
■ Monitoring - Self-regulated learning; Checking your progress to make
sure you’re on track, setting measurable goals, planning your studies
(including time management), paying attention to how effective your study
strategies are, making changes when needed
■ Practicing - Repeated practice by actively answering questions across
multiple study sessions, reinforcing material better than only rereading
■ Attending - Focusing on what you need to study and ignoring distractions,
which will help to memorize material; Avoid multitasking
■ Connecting - Associate new information with your own knowledge, skills,
and experience; Use cues to help you connect and remember
■ Thinking deeply - Use elaboration, an active process of explaining ideas
and giving examples, to learn better
● Critical thinking - systematically evaluating information to reach conclusions based on
the evidence that is presented
○ In other words, it is investigating information instead of accepting information at
face value without question
○ Questions to ask yourself:
, ■ Is the source of the claim believable? (Is the source, known, reputable, an
expert on the topic, and avoid conflicts of interest like ulterior motives or
funding?)
■ Is there strong evidence for the claim? (Is evidence supporting the claim
high-quality, empirical, and complete?)
■ Do other believable sources agree with the claim? (Are other sources also
believable and agree with the empirical evidence? Is there a need for
more or improved evidence?)
● Reject the claim if even one of the answers is no. Be cautious if
even one of the answers is uncertain. Accept the claim only if all
answers are yes.
○ Even if evidence is from empirical research, thorough descriptions of studies that
describe participants, research methods, ethical concerns, and conclusions
should be available. Research results should also have been peer reviewed,
which means it has been reviewed and approved by other researchers with
similar expertise.
■ Still continue to think critically to determine whether the conducted
research is unclear, flawed, suspicious, or incomplete, or if the
conclusions are overblown.
● Intuitions, beliefs, and opinions are personal and may not be factually true, so they are
never considered to be evidence for claims in psychology
History of Psychology and how it developed
● While humans have been trying to understand psychology for thousands of years, it was
not recognized as a scientific field of study until 1879
● Wilhelm Wundt
○ Established the first experimental psychology lab in Germany to measure how
long it took participants to complete certain mental tasks
○ Believed we should study thoughts
● John Watson - Believed we should only study observable actions in 1913
● Decade of the Brain - began in 1990, where it was suggested that we should investigate
the inner workings of the brain to understand mental activity and behavior
● 5 Domains of Modern Psychology - 5 interconnected areas in modern psychological
research that explore psychology from various specific perspectives
○ Biological - How does activity in your brain and body affect your thoughts,
feelings, and actions?
○ Cognitive - How do your mental activities affect your thoughts, feelings, and
actions?
○ Developmental - How do you change throughout your life from birth through old
age, and how does this affect your thoughts, feelings, and actions?
○ Social and Personality - How do social factors and your personality affect your
thoughts, feelings, and actions?
● Psychology - scientific study of mental activity and behavior, which depend on
processing in the brain
○ Objective and does not investigate personal experience
○ Systematically investigates and measures thoughts, feelings, and behavior, and
how brain processes make them possible
○ Can be used to improve your life by using how the brain works to your advantage
■ Improve your own well-being by understanding concepts like anxiety and
how sleep affects the brain
■ Improve your relationships by understanding how people like family
develop and why people do what they do
■ Improve your career by making good career and education choices,
understand how to improve performance, understand how to work better
with other people like coworkers and clients, and utilize psychology in
your field
● Empiricism - evidence-based approach to gaining knowledge by conducting research
that systematically investigates and measures phenomena of interest
○ In psychological research, this is using an objective, evidence-based approach
■ This approach allows psychologists to gain insight into the mental activity
of many people, not just one person
● Psychology research shows how you can improve study skills, learning, and academic
performance (science of learning)
○ IMPACT Method
■ Improving - Adopting a growth mindset, believing that you can put in the
work to change how you think, feel, and act to improve in your targeted
areas
■ Monitoring - Self-regulated learning; Checking your progress to make
sure you’re on track, setting measurable goals, planning your studies
(including time management), paying attention to how effective your study
strategies are, making changes when needed
■ Practicing - Repeated practice by actively answering questions across
multiple study sessions, reinforcing material better than only rereading
■ Attending - Focusing on what you need to study and ignoring distractions,
which will help to memorize material; Avoid multitasking
■ Connecting - Associate new information with your own knowledge, skills,
and experience; Use cues to help you connect and remember
■ Thinking deeply - Use elaboration, an active process of explaining ideas
and giving examples, to learn better
● Critical thinking - systematically evaluating information to reach conclusions based on
the evidence that is presented
○ In other words, it is investigating information instead of accepting information at
face value without question
○ Questions to ask yourself:
, ■ Is the source of the claim believable? (Is the source, known, reputable, an
expert on the topic, and avoid conflicts of interest like ulterior motives or
funding?)
■ Is there strong evidence for the claim? (Is evidence supporting the claim
high-quality, empirical, and complete?)
■ Do other believable sources agree with the claim? (Are other sources also
believable and agree with the empirical evidence? Is there a need for
more or improved evidence?)
● Reject the claim if even one of the answers is no. Be cautious if
even one of the answers is uncertain. Accept the claim only if all
answers are yes.
○ Even if evidence is from empirical research, thorough descriptions of studies that
describe participants, research methods, ethical concerns, and conclusions
should be available. Research results should also have been peer reviewed,
which means it has been reviewed and approved by other researchers with
similar expertise.
■ Still continue to think critically to determine whether the conducted
research is unclear, flawed, suspicious, or incomplete, or if the
conclusions are overblown.
● Intuitions, beliefs, and opinions are personal and may not be factually true, so they are
never considered to be evidence for claims in psychology
History of Psychology and how it developed
● While humans have been trying to understand psychology for thousands of years, it was
not recognized as a scientific field of study until 1879
● Wilhelm Wundt
○ Established the first experimental psychology lab in Germany to measure how
long it took participants to complete certain mental tasks
○ Believed we should study thoughts
● John Watson - Believed we should only study observable actions in 1913
● Decade of the Brain - began in 1990, where it was suggested that we should investigate
the inner workings of the brain to understand mental activity and behavior
● 5 Domains of Modern Psychology - 5 interconnected areas in modern psychological
research that explore psychology from various specific perspectives
○ Biological - How does activity in your brain and body affect your thoughts,
feelings, and actions?
○ Cognitive - How do your mental activities affect your thoughts, feelings, and
actions?
○ Developmental - How do you change throughout your life from birth through old
age, and how does this affect your thoughts, feelings, and actions?
○ Social and Personality - How do social factors and your personality affect your
thoughts, feelings, and actions?
